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Articles 1 - 17 of 17
Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Associations Between Early Childhood Sleep, Memory Function, And Brain Development Across The Nap Transition, Sanna Lokhandwala
Associations Between Early Childhood Sleep, Memory Function, And Brain Development Across The Nap Transition, Sanna Lokhandwala
Doctoral Dissertations
Preschool-age children often distribute their sleep across a midday nap and overnight sleep. Skipping the nap is suggested to increase the duration and depth of deep sleep (i.e., slow wave activity; SWA). Moreover, missing the midday nap has been shown to impair learning processes. This may be because children’s brains at this point in development are immature, necessitating the intervening nap period to strengthen memories before they are forgotten. Nonetheless, at some point during the preschool years, many children begin transitioning naturally out of napping. It is unclear whether the memory benefits of overnight SWA after a skipped nap depend …
The Consolidation Of Memory Associations, Kyle A. Kainec
The Consolidation Of Memory Associations, Kyle A. Kainec
Doctoral Dissertations
Creating memories is a fundamental challenge for the human brain. To create memories, defining features of experiences must be stored distinguishably without forgetting other memories. Memory associations represent co-occurring features and defining features across experiences. Memory associations are represented as networks of information that are stored in the brain. New memory associations are encoded during experiences and can be used to update existing memory associations during offline intervals. However, the mechanisms that underlie how encoded memory associations are stored within existing networks during offline intervals remains unclear. The experiments in this dissertation address a significant theoretical gap in understanding the …
Sleep Duration Is Associated With Caudate Volume And Executive Function, Nicole Jones
Sleep Duration Is Associated With Caudate Volume And Executive Function, Nicole Jones
Honors Theses
The ineligible role of the caudate nucleus in sleep has been implicated throughout multiple scientific studies. Previous literature has shown that greater caudate volume is associated with longer habitual sleep duration in older adults- ranging from 55 years of age and up. However, the association between sleep duration and caudate volume remains unknown in the younger population. In this study, we examined the caudate volume in youth to older adults (10 to 85 years old) with a greater sample size (N=464) to increase statistical power. The volumetric size of the caudate nucleus showed significantly positive association with habitual sleep duration, …
Sex Differences In Endothelial Function, Metabolism, And Sleep: Responses To Disrupted Circadian Rhythms, Olga Hecmarie Meléndez-Fernández
Sex Differences In Endothelial Function, Metabolism, And Sleep: Responses To Disrupted Circadian Rhythms, Olga Hecmarie Meléndez-Fernández
Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports
Circadian rhythms are endogenous cycles that recur approximately every 24 h, and manifest in virtually every physiological and behavioral process among the vast majority of organisms. These rhythms, sustained by the central circadian clock, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus, allow for optimal timing of biological processes that ensure organisms’ homeostasis, and are entrained to precisely 24 h by daily exposure to light. Disruption of the molecular mechanisms that drive these rhythms have negative consequences on physiology and behavior that may impair survival. The molecular mechanisms that underlie these effects are widely studied and linked to multiple diseases and …
Potential Psychoactive Effects Of Microalgal Bioactive Compounds For The Case Of Sleep And Mood Regulation: Opportunities And Challenges, Bozena Mccarthy, Graham O’Neill Dr, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam Prof.
Potential Psychoactive Effects Of Microalgal Bioactive Compounds For The Case Of Sleep And Mood Regulation: Opportunities And Challenges, Bozena Mccarthy, Graham O’Neill Dr, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam Prof.
Articles
Sleep deficiency is now considered an emerging global epidemic associated with many serious health problems, and a major cause of financial and social burdens. Sleep and mental health are closely connected, further exacerbating the negative impact of sleep deficiency on overall health and well-being. A major drawback of conventional treatments is the wide range of undesirable side-effects typically associated with benzodiazepines and antidepressants, which can be more debilitating than the initial disorder. It is therefore valuable to explore the efficiency of other remedies for complementarity and synergism with existing conventional treatments, leading to possible reduction in undesirable side-effects. This review …
Understanding Individual Differences Within Large-Scale Brain Networks Across Cognitive Contexts, Katherine L. Bottenhorn
Understanding Individual Differences Within Large-Scale Brain Networks Across Cognitive Contexts, Katherine L. Bottenhorn
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Historically, human neuroimaging has studied brain regions “activated” during behavior and how they differ between groups of people. This approach has improved our understanding of healthy and disordered brain function, but has two key shortcomings. First, focusing on brain activation restricts how we understand the brain, ignoring vital, behind-the-scenes processing. In the past decade, the focus has shifted to communication between brain regions, or connectivity, revealing networks that exhibit subtle, consistent differences across behaviors and diagnoses. Without activation-focused research’s constraints, connectivity-focused neuroimaging research more comprehensively assesses brain function. Second, focusing on group differences ignores substantial within-group heterogeneity and often imposes …
How The Covid-19 Pandemic Has Affected Physical Activity, Sleep And Mental Health In University Students, Faculty And Staff And To Examine The Relationship Between These Variables, Zachary Parisi
Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses
Background: Increased physical activity has been shown to be beneficial in decreasing stress. This project will expand on this knowledge while also studying college students, a demographic that has been less studied. This study will also examine the impact of COVID-19 on these variables. COVID-19 changed many peoples’ activities of daily life, and possibly physically activity levels, due to public health measures such as lockdowns and remote learning. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected physical activity, sleep, and mental health in university students, faculty and staff and to examine the relationship …
Proactive And Reactive Aggression, Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia, And Sleep In Adolescents, Allison L. Brasch
Proactive And Reactive Aggression, Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia, And Sleep In Adolescents, Allison L. Brasch
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Current research evaluating the relationship between proactive and reactive aggression, sleep, and autonomic dysfunction has shown inconsistencies. The unique etiologies, manifestations, and presentation of these two aggressive subtypes have garnered much speculation, and research has shown mixed, and oftentimes conflicting, results. Generally speaking, insufficient sleep has been linked to increased agitation, cognitive impairment, emotional dysregulation, and poorer physical health. Many studies have provided support for an inverse relationship existing between sleep problems and sympathovagal health, implicating hypo- or hyper-autonomic function with proactive and reactive aggression, respectively. Concurrently and conflictingly, additional research has shown support for the exact opposite relationships between …
Resting State Network Dynamics Across Wakefulness And Sleep, Evan Houldin
Resting State Network Dynamics Across Wakefulness And Sleep, Evan Houldin
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The function of sleep is a longstanding mystery of the brain. By contrast, the function of resting state networks (RSNs) is one of its most recent mysteries. The relationship between RSNs and neuronal activity has been unclear since RSNs were discovered during the advent of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Somewhat paradoxically, investigating these enigmatic phenomena in parallel can help to illuminate the function of both. The three studies described as part of this thesis all involve an evaluation of RSN dynamics across wakefulness and sleep. They are all based on the same dataset, derived from an experimental paradigm in …
Sleep, And Its Relation To Non-Motor Deficits In Patients With Cerebellar Ataxia, Akshata Sonni
Sleep, And Its Relation To Non-Motor Deficits In Patients With Cerebellar Ataxia, Akshata Sonni
Doctoral Dissertations
The cerebellum is a highly connected structure, and its involvement in sleep – which is a dynamic process that is modulated by a complex set of neural systems – can come about through a number of neural pathways. We conducted two studies aimed at furthering our understanding of cerebellar involvement in sleep behavior and physiology, as well as measuring the impact of poor sleep on mood and cognition in patients with cerebellar degeneration. First, by means of an online battery including measures of sleep and neuropsychiatric function, we collected data from 176 patients with cerebellar ataxia. We found strong evidence …
Assessing The Long-Term Sequelae Of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Janna Mantua
Assessing The Long-Term Sequelae Of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Janna Mantua
Doctoral Dissertations
A mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), also known as a concussion, is defined as an injury that results in an alteration of consciousness or mental status. Previous studies have shown mTBI populations experience a number of chronic (> 1 year) symptoms, such as sleep disturbances (e.g., sleep stage alterations), mood alterations (e.g., depressive symptoms), and cognitive alterations (e.g., poor concentration). The three chapters of this dissertation sought to explore these long-term sequelae and the possible interrelations between them. In the first experiment, sleep-dependent memory consolidation of neutral stimuli was probed in a chronic mTBI sample and a control, uninjured sample. …
The Role Of Sleep On Inhibitory Control In Young Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd), Amanda Cremone
The Role Of Sleep On Inhibitory Control In Young Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd), Amanda Cremone
Doctoral Dissertations
Alongside the hallmark symptoms of hyperactivity and inattention, children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often report having sleep problems. Although sleep deficits are consistently found when evaluated subjectively, impairments in sleep physiology are inconsistent. Compared to typically developing (TD) children, children with ADHD have greater spectral power in the delta (0.5 to 4 Hz) and theta frequency bands (4 to 7 Hz). Moreover, activity in these bands is differentially related to cognitive outcomes in ADHD and TD populations. As such, this dissertation sought to examine relations between sleep physiology and inhibitory control, a primary deficit of ADHD, in young children with …
A Naturalistic Paradigm To Probe Conscious Information Processing During Sleep, Max M. Silverbrook
A Naturalistic Paradigm To Probe Conscious Information Processing During Sleep, Max M. Silverbrook
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
Sleep was long considered a passive mental state. The extent to which external information is integrated in, and consciously processed during sleep remains unknown. Here, simultaneous electroencephalographic (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were collected from sleeping participants. First, the stimulus elicited significantly correlated fMRI activity in the auditory and fronto-parietal networks of awake participants. Behavioural testing found individuals to perceive the story’s suspense similarly. Then neural activity related to high-level processing of the story was investigated in 5 individuals who slept through it. Fronto-parietal activity in 1 individual in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep followed that of …
Dynamic Functional Connectivity Reveals Temporal Differences In Wake And Stage-2 Sleep, Mazen El-Baba
Dynamic Functional Connectivity Reveals Temporal Differences In Wake And Stage-2 Sleep, Mazen El-Baba
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository
The transition from wakefulness to sleep is marked by changes in neurophysiology, suggesting that changes in consciousness might be accompanied by changes in functional network organization. Brain activity of 21 healthy participants was measured via simultaneous EEG-fMRI as participants transitioned from wakefulness into sleep. All fMRI volumes were ICA-decomposed, yielding 42 neurophysiological sources. Independent component time courses were used to estimate mean functional connectivity (FC) and dynamic FC using a sliding window technique. Windowed matrices were submitted to k-means clustering (k = 7, L2-norm). Mean FC in Wake and Stage-2 Sleep (S2S) were similar. Dynamic analysis revealed differences in temporal …
The Relationship Between Sleep, Working Memory, And Decision Making In Young And Old Adult Populations, Melissa G. Merz
The Relationship Between Sleep, Working Memory, And Decision Making In Young And Old Adult Populations, Melissa G. Merz
Honors Undergraduate Theses
Sleep is known to influence basic tasks concerning working memory, reaction time and executive functioning (Silva, Wang, Ronda, Wyatt, & Duffy, 2010; Nebes, Buysse, Halligan, Houck, & Monk, 2009). However, the amount that sleep influences these functions varies from study to study possibly due to differences in age and task design. Aim 1A of this study is to determine if sleep quality affects working memory. Aim 1B of this study is to determine if age affects sleep quality and working memory in comparison of young and old adult populations. Finally, Aim 2 of this study is to determine if there …
Age-Related Changes In Sleep-Dependent Consolidation Of Visuo-Spatial Memory, Akshata Sonni
Age-Related Changes In Sleep-Dependent Consolidation Of Visuo-Spatial Memory, Akshata Sonni
Masters Theses
Healthy aging is associated with a reduction in slow-wave sleep (SWS), crucial for declarative memory consolidation in young adults; consequently, previously observed benefits of sleep on declarative learning in older adults could reflect a passive role of sleep in protecting memories from waking interference, rather than an active, stabilizing effect. To dissociate the passive and active roles of sleep, a visuo-spatial task was administered; memory was probed after a 12 hr interval consisting of either daytime wake or overnight sleep and post-wake/post-sleep stability of the memories was tested following task-related interference. Ninety five older adults (mean=65.43 yrs; SD=7.6 yrs) and …
Effects Of Resting State On Perceptual Learning, Sarah Eagleman Ph.D.
Effects Of Resting State On Perceptual Learning, Sarah Eagleman Ph.D.
Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)
Psychophysical experiments in humans have demonstrated that improvements in perceptual learning tasks occur following daytime rests. The neural correlates of how rest influences subsequent sensory processing during these tasks remain unclear. One possible neural mechanism that may underlie this behavioral improvement is reactivation. Previously evoked network activity reoccurs – reactivates - in the absence of further stimulation. Reactivation was initially discovered in the hippocampus but has now been found in several brain areas including cortex. This phenomenon has been implicated as a general mechanism by which neural networks learn and store sensory information. However, whether reactivation occurs in areas relevant …